STATE COLLEGE, PA -- Penn State, for the 11th straight game, scored 30+ points, and the Nittany Lions defense allowed a total of 76 yards in an impressive 31-0 rout of the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night.
The second-largest crowd in Penn State history witnessed the shellacking of the Hawkeyes, with over 110,800 people in attendance. The shutout win was the Nittany Lions' first shutout over a ranked opponent since the 1999 Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M.
All things considered, the Iowa offense started fast on Saturday with 54 yards over their first nine plays. However, the Hawkeyes' second drive ended with a fumble from tight end Erick All on the Nittany Lions 18-yard line. It would be the last drive that the Hawkeyes would pick up a first down until their final drive of the fourth quarter.
Penn State would take advantage of the fumble, going 53 plays over 17 yards before finishing the drive off with a 47-yard field goal from placekicker Alex Felkins to take a 3-0 lead.
On a night of uncharacteristic Iowa football, they had four turnovers, including one on special teams. After forcing a three-and-out on the Nittany Lions' first series following the field goal, the Hawkeys would give Penn State plus field position after a Riley Thompson punt hit off the back of a Hawkeyes special teamer, resulting in another Curtis Jacobs fumble recovery.
The Nittany Lions would take advantage of the second turnover as Drew Allar found Khalil Dinkins in the endzone to make it a 10-0 game.
While Penn State only entered halftime up 10-0, it was a dominant first half for Penn State, especially defensively. The Nittany Lions defense allowed just 63 yards across 21 yards.
The Nittany Lions' offense wasn't overly impressive in the first 30 minutes. Mike Yurcich chose to go with a conservative approach, but it got the job done. The Nittany Lions rarely took any deep passing opportunities, taking what Iowa would give them in the first half while running the ball 25 times over their 48 first-half plays. The Nittany Lions averaged just 3.4 yards, totaling 162 yards in the half.
"I just thought we played really good complimentary football," Penn State head coach James Franklin said after the win on Saturday night. "Obviously, our defense played a suffocating style of D, and we're able to turnovers, and we're extremely ball aware, but the thing is again, we didn't turn the ball over on offense either."
"Just a ton of stuff to be proud of," he added.
The second half for the Penn State defense would be even better than the first half. The Nittany Lions kept the Hawkeyes to just 13 yards in that final 30 minutes of play.
Offensively, the Nittany Lions would take advantage of tiring Iowa Hawkeye with 235 total yards in the second half and three touchdowns. Tyler Warren would be on the receiving end of two of those touchdowns, while KeAndre Lambert-Smith also picked up a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a fantastic throw from Drew Allar but an equally as fantastic catch by Lambert-Smith to make it a 31-0 game at the time.
Penn State will now look toward the Northwestern Wildcats next Saturday night. The Wildcats on Saturday evening shocked the Minnesota Golden Gophers 37-34 in overtime to move to 2-2 on the season.
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